Blah Blah Blog – Bad Comics I Bought Part 3

A post from my old Marvel blog concerning early Marvel titles that I purchased which didn't hook me as a reader. Bad Comics I Bought pt. 3 April 28, 2007 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General Continuing our week-long survey of Marvel issues I purchased as a young child which put me … Continue reading Blah Blah Blog – Bad Comics I Bought Part 3

5BC: Five Mean Caricatures of Comic Book Creators

Comic books for years were considered a juvenile medium, and that sensibility often extended to the behavior of the practitioners in the field. Like those who work in any other industries, not all comic book creators get along, and on occasion some of them have felt the need to take their aggression out in public, … Continue reading 5BC: Five Mean Caricatures of Comic Book Creators

BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #180

I bought this, my second regular issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN on one of my regular weekly Thursday trips to the spinner rack at the 7-11. I had started following the wall-crawler's adventures the previous month but I was still somehow a bit lukewarm on them. It wasn't until I wound up buying a copy of … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #180

5BC: Five Best Unofficial Marvel and DC Crossovers

As the 1960s turned into the 1970s, two things were going on in the world of comics. Upstart publisher Marvel was gaining ground on its rival, the massive DC Comics, then known as National Periodical Publications. And a new generation of creators was coming into the field, one that had grown up reading comics as … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Unofficial Marvel and DC Crossovers

BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #184

Another book that came to me out of a 3-Bag, this issue of FANTASTIC FOUR would have been the reason I bought the 3-Bag in question, regardless of what other titles might have been inside it. FF was, by this point, my favorite comic book series, and so an opportunity to fill in another missing … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #184

BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #170

This was another issue that I purchased in a 3-Bag, the most readily available source of recent back issues in 1978. In that time before widespread comic book stores and trade paperback collections, these plastic bags containing three recent books (typically about nine months old) could be found in the toy departments of department stores, … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #170

BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #193

As usual, it was an exciting day when a new issue of FANTASTIC FOUR turned up on my 7-11's spinner rack. We were in the midst of an extended "FF breaks up" storyline, one that had been running virtually since I began buying new issues, and I was very much invested in what was going … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #193

BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #222

This next book is something of a forgotten classic, a really strong and memorable single issue story hidden in the middle of a run. It was bought for my brother Ken, who was still a big Hulk fan based mostly on the television show (and the fact that he was more of a "monster" kid … Continue reading BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #222

BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #212

This is another book that I got out of a 3-Bag, and one that was probably of more interest to my younger brother Ken. He was more of a Hulk fan than I was, at least in these days. I never had a great affinity for the Hulk, in the same way that I was … Continue reading BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #212

BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #183

It was always the most exciting thing when a new batch of 3-Bags would show up somewhere, and you'd suddenly have access to issues that you had missed. In those days before there were comic shops, this was the only way one could find back issues (apart from mail order--and I was never confident enough … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #183